De-troit Basket-Ball
Growing up I always felt like I had a real connection with Detroit because I couldn’t get enough of John Mason, the Pistons PA announcer. Nothing rolls off the tongue quite like ‘DE-TROIT BASKET-BALL’. Each time I would hear that when I was watching a game I would get so fired up, even though I was always rooting for my hometown Denver Nuggets.
That being said, I’m writing this blog post to you, our dedicated fan and reader of our blog, letting you know that I’m the newest member of the Castle team! I come to Detroit by way of Boulder CO, Norman OK, Las Vegas NV, and Providence RI where I was most recently working for a company called Swipely trying to figure out how to fix the broken and archaic world of credit card processing. If you read the previous sentence and thought “Hmmm… Swipely and Castle both hang out in these weird old industries” you’re absolutely right, which is one of the main reasons I’m thrilled to have landed in Detroit.
There were two main draws for me moving out here to Detroit, and unfortunately, neither had anything to do with the weather1.
- People from Detroit are damn proud of their city: I’ve been fortunate to live in quite a few cities in the last 8 years and most of them lack an energy around their city’s history and culture through good times and bad. I probably wouldn’t have understood this concept had it not been for my experience living in Las Vegas for two years. In many ways, the cities are very similar. To an outsider, both cities seem like one trick ponies, gambling in Las Vegas and automotive manufacturing in Detroit, and both cities were some of the hardest hit during the housing crisis in 2008. I think the best word to describe both cities and the people that live in them is gritty, and by having that trait, each city is finding unique ways to bounce back and take the next step. I’m excited to be a part of, and contribute to, the hustle and grit that make Detroit what it is.
- Someone should fix old and broken industries: Just because a status quo has existed for decades, doesn’t mean it’s the right way to do things, nor does it mean that it’s the most convenient for the consumer. Take Warby Parker for example: Problem - Glasses used to cost $300 and you had to go to your optometrist to buy them. Solution - Glasses cost $99, the frames are shipped to you, if you like them great, and if you don’t no problem just ship them back. To me, property management isn’t that different. Let’s say you’re a property owner, you’re busy, and you want someone to look after this incredible asset of yours. Unfortunately, the company that manages your property has a complicated fee structure, has little to no transparency, and struggles to respond to your inquiries. I love what’s Castle is doing because we’re working hard everyday to fix what’s broken in this industry, and we’re doing it in a way that scales to lots and lots of cities.
Long story short, I’m pumped to have the opportunity to help Castle grow, I’m thrilled to be a part of the vibrant community here in Detroit, and I’m grateful that I’m no longer driving across the country with my cat riding shotgun.
- Fun fact: I went to the University of Oklahoma with the intention of becoming a broadcast meteorologist. The dream died the first and only time I went storm chasing, driving 700 miles through Texas and not seeing a thing (however, if you dig storm chasing check out this site for the best live chases on the web). ↩